"And indeed, the burden of Cassandra's "gift" is evident in mythology. She predicted the outcome of many disastrous events. In one memorable example, Cassandra announced the dire consequences of the Trojans accepting the infamous Wooden Horse from their Greek opponents. But as Apollo made certain, no one believed Cassandra when she warned her companions about the future. And this, in the end, was to be Cassandra's tragic fate."

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

The end of Europe as we know it

Very few commentators (almost all of which operate through the new media) have recognized the historic nature of what we have seen over the past two weeks in France. A war is on that will continue long after these particular riots stop. France (and the rest of Europe) are not only involved in a war, they are seeing the end of their civilizations as we have known them.

The riots that envelope France result from immigration from muslim countries, as most of you already know (except those that watch the Today show).

. . . the rioters aren't doing a bad impression of the Muslim armies of 13 centuries ago: They're seizing their opportunities, testing their foe, probing his weak spots. If burning the 'burbs gets you more ''respect'' from Chirac, they'll burn 'em again, and again. In the current issue of City Journal, Theodore Dalrymple concludes a piece on British suicide bombers with this grim summation of the new Europe: ''The sweet dream of universal cultural compatibility has been replaced by the nightmare of permanent conflict.'' Which sounds an awful lot like a new Dark Ages.

As to where Britain falls in this grim scenario, I noticed a few months ago that Telegraph readers had started closing their gloomier missives to me with the words, "Fortunately I won't live to see it" - a sign-off now so routine in my mailbag I assumed it was the British version of "Have a nice day". But that's a false consolation. As France this past fortnight reminds us, the changes in Europe are happening far faster than most people thought. That's the problem: unless you're planning on croaking imminently, you will live to see it.

That assessment is backed up by the revelation following the London subway attacks that the British policy of allowing unfettered immigration would lead to disaster:

Intelligence chiefs are warning Tony Blair that Britain faces a full-blown Islamist insurgency, sustained by thousands of young Muslim men with military training now resident in this country. . . . As police and the security services work to prevent another cell murdering civilians, attention is focusing on the pool of migrants to this country from the Horn of Africa and central Asia. MI5 is working to an estimate that more than 10,000 young men from these regions have had at least basic training in light weapons and military explosives.

A well-connected source said there were more than 100,000 people in Britain from “completely militarised” regions, including Somalia and its neighbours in the Horn of Africa, and Afghanistan and territories bordering the country. “Every one of them knows how to use an AK-47,” said the source. “About 10 per cent can strip and reassemble such a weapon blindfolded, and probably a similar proportion have some knowledge of how to use military explosives. That adds up to tens of thousands of men.”

None of this news surprises those of us who receive our news from the new media. Debbie Schlussel wrote about France's fate as early as 2002:

That's France's problem. With few controls on immigration, there are now between 5 and 10 million Muslim Arabs in that country of 60 million. The range in numbers of Muslims there is so vast because nobody knows for sure exactly how many there are. One thing is for sure: in the next 50 to 100 years-maybe sooner-France will become a Muslim nation. Demographics dictate it.

Pat Buchanan predicted (in 2001) the general trend that we are starting to see emerge in Europe. The Death of the West was ignored by the MSM/DNC, but helped prepare the rest of us for the events that will continue to unfold across the Atlantic and, later, in the U.S.

This is the larger meaning of the ritual murder of Theo Van Gogh in Holland, the subway bombings in London, the train bombings in Madrid, the Paris riots spreading across France. The perpetrators of these crimes in the capitals of Europe are the children of immigrants who were once the colonial subjects of the European empires. . . .

The rioters are of Arab and African descent, and Muslim. While almost all are French citizens, they are not part of the French people. For never have they been assimilated into French culture or society. And some wish to remain who and what they are. They live in France but are not French.

. . . The soaring Muslim population is a Fifth Column inside Europe.

Nevertheless, their numbers must grow. For not only do they have a higher birth rate than the native-born Europeans, no European nation, save Moslem Albania, has a birth rate (2.1 births per woman) that will enable it to endure for many more generations. The West is aging, shrinking, and dying.

In half a century the number of Europeans will fall by 50 million, because the Europeans no longer love life enough to bring new life into this world. Three hundred and twenty years ago a Muslim army stood before the gates of Vienna, and Europe barely escaped conversion to the true faith at swordpoint. During the next half-century Muslims will wander into Europe and replenish the half-empty towns with people, and the sound of children's voices once again will be heard - but in Arabic.

"Because they hate life, your supposed allies are cowards. Half a millennium ago the Spanish empire drove Islam from its territory; this year a few bombs at a railway station panicked the pathetic remnants of Spain into retreat from Iraq.

Readers of Bat Ye'Or have expected this week's events and have been trying to help the U.S. avoid Europe's fate long before the London bombings and the Paris intifada became the source of more appeasement from followers of Oprah and the New York Times.

France will always exist as a land mass. But once the French people are gone, they are not coming back. Once France is populated with Muslims, the French culture will be gone forever. France is only one example of the path that the rest of Europe is taking.